Eight killed in Mogadishu mortar attacks

Assailants fired several mortar shells at a crowded market in the south of the city.

At least eight people have been killed and several others wounded in mortar and grenade attacks in an escalation of guerilla-style attacks in the Somali capital, witnesses has said.

Hours later, a camp housing Ethiopian troops in southern Mogadishu came under heavy fire, sparking fighting in the lawless capital, residents said on Saturday.

Assailants fired several mortar shells at a crowded market in the south of the city, killing three people and wounding several others, forcing many to flee the volatile area.

"We heard heavy explosions and immediately there was dust darkened everywhere. I saw three dead people at the scene and there were others wounded ... There was confusion and nobody knows what the hell happened," said Haji Nure Dini, a trader.

Two children were also killed when shells landed in a camp for displaced persons and in a position near a former military camp in the capital's southern district, local resident Nur Hassan Waberi said.

Other casualties occurred when a barrage of mortar and grenades was fired into positions near the United Nations Developmhem a young girl, were killed and five others wounded after a shell landed in their living room, the two were from the same family and they died at the spot," said local resident Shamso Bare Mohamed.